INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

As many stitchers are undoubtedly aware, The Goode Huswife stopped designing needlework patterns (at least for a while) some time ago, and nearly all of them are out of print.

To see which ones currently remain in print, check the radio button for The Goode Huswife using Hoffmandis’ Designer Search. The patterns which still show up here should still be available to order through your favorite needlework shop. Patterns which do not show up are officially out of print.

The big news is that The Goode Huswife has announced on her website the release of a new book in the fall, which will be a compilation of “ten old, favorite designs.”

In other words, people who want to sell The Goode Huswife patterns on eBay or other auction sites*** for ridiculous amounts of money might want to try to do their selling soon, as the old favorites they have for sale may be shortly available again at a much lower cost.

Simultaneously, people who want to have old favorite patterns by The Goode Huswife may just want to hold off from paying any ridiculous amounts of money on those same auction sites until you find out exactly which ten patterns are contained in this new book to be released!

I don’t know why The Goode Huswife is releasing this book of old favorites. Perhaps the designer is tired of seeing those ridiculous auction prices on eBay herself and would like to help stitchers who want to stitch or collect her designs out while simultaneously making a bit more money herself from her own designs.  I mean, it must be frustrating to see those kinds of prices on eBay when the designer herself didn’t charge that much for her designs and probably didn’t have any idea her patterns would become so popular AFTER they went out of print.  After all, most of the time, when a pattern goes out of print, it’s really because the designer feels the pattern is no longer in demand.  She must wonder where all these fans of her designs were when her designs were actually in print, and she was trying to manage a successful designing business.  Anyway, since she owns the copyright to her own designs, she can easily reissue them in a new format.

This seems a good time to go over another very important copyright issue: No, it is NOT okay to make a copy of an out of print pattern (so that you have a working copy of the pattern and can return a library book, or so that you can keep your own book and give your friend who really wants to stitch the design a working copy, etc.) simply because it is out of print. You MUST request permission from the designer to make a copy — and some designers WILL allow it, so it does not hurt to ask. One of my good friends recently received permission from the author of a quilting book which has been out of print for several years to make twelve copies specifically to be distributed to students in a quilting class she was planning. The terms of the agreement between my friend and the book’s author were very specific, right down to the number of copies and the reason for making the copies. That is the author’s prerogative because the author owns the copyright to the book he wrote. But if you request permission and the designer says, “No. You may not make a copy of my design from that out of print book,” then you cannot legally make a copy. To do so without asking at all, or to do so after having been told you may not, is copyright infringement — and it is NOT worth the legal costs and fines you could incur by taking that chance. Just don’t do it. Stitch nothing else but the design from the library book until you’ve finished it, then return the library book, and perhaps pay a few dollar in fines to the library; it will be money well spent. Loan your friend your book — or if it’s a book you’re unwilling to allow out of your sight, then allow your friend to stitch the pattern but tell her she has to come over to your house one night a week to work on it. Find another way — a legal way — to solve the problem. Or go look through your stash — there’s plenty there you’ve forgotten about anyway!

Back to the subject of The Goode Huswife releasing a collection of her old patterns … Clearly, for the needlework designer, eBay and other auction sites provide fertile ground to study which of their out of print designs are favorites and would do the best in a new release. There isn’t a much better opportunity for market research than that, actually.

So, we stitchers can hope The Goode Huswife has used eBay as a research tool to choose the ten favorites as indicated by ridiculous very complimentary prices to release in this upcoming book … and fall is just around the corner, too!

***WHAT other auction sites? They all seem to be going away and leaving the one big eMonopoly in their wake … Yahoo Auctions closed its doors in June.
Amazon Auctions are still in business, though a search for “cross stitch” produces a sad, sorry four auctions that are barely limping along. Boohoohoo! A lack of competition is bad for business all the way around; the proof is in the ridiculous eBay seller fees, which we all know only have to get added into the prices on the consumer’s end!

Sorry, my politics are showing. (Good thing this site is all mine, and I’m the boss! ) Walmart just opened a store in my little town of about 13,000 yesterday, and so now I’m just counting down the days until all the other businesses in town close their doors, and watching more of the people — single women with children, especially — in town to go to work for Walmart thinking they’ll work full time and have health coverage only to find themselves suddenly requiring public assistance they didn’t even need before.

Sorry again; I really didn’t realize when I started writing that eMonopoly and then Walmonster were going to hijack your regularly scheduled post. (But look at that … not even a warning from the boss! THIS is the life for me!)

Technorati Tags: Goode Huswife, eBay, cross stitch, auction, out of print, OOP, Hoffman Distributing, Yahoo auctions, Amazon auctions, auctions, eMonopoly, lack of competition, bad for business, Walmart, copyright, quilt, quilting, copyright infringement, library, market research

If you’re making reservations to go to Celebration of Needlework, be sure to use this link for the Marriott hotel, and then don’t forget to use the special code NEENEEA to get the reduce rate Celebrations of Needlework has negotiated for the block of rooms they have reserved.

You have only through August 16th to book your room at the reduced rate of just $109 per night, so book soon!

By the way, another good reason to go to Celebration of Needlework is to participate in the auction for breast cancer research. I firmly believe that someday, needleworkers are going to be responsible for curing not only breast cancer, but all the female cancers (because the cure most likely has something to do with our natural hormones, which have been linked to all of the female cancers, so it makes sense that when a cure for breast cancer is discovered, it will also be effective for ovarian, uterine, and other female cancers).

Technorati Tags: Marriott, Louisville, Kentucky, breast cancer research, cure, Susan Greening Davis, Charlotte Dudney, Jackie du Plessis, Robin Laukhuf, Barbara Jackson, Sherri Jones, Julie Norton, Pam Reed, Lauren Sauer, Marcia Brown Smith, Betsy Stinner, Catherine Strickler, Elizabeth Talledo, Wendy White, cross stitch, Celebration of Needlework, Still Stitching with Susan, Designs from the Pep’r Pot, punchneedle, It’s Fineally Finished, Olde Willow, Tristan Brooks, Patrick’s Woods, J Designs, Olde Colonial, Forget-Me-Nots-in-Stitches, Binding Stitch, Earth Threads, Indigo Rose, Fingerwork, Wee Works, needlework, hardanger, Britstitch, Tokens & Trifles, Sunflower Samplings, Simply Old Fashioned, Scandinavian Stitches, Images Stitchery, Heart’s Content, Maureen Appleton, Dutch Treat Designs, Just Stitching, Cross Stitch Treasures, Crossed Wing

It’s hard for me to believe anyone — stitcher or not — has yet to subscribe to the wonderful online magazine, The Gift of Stitching (fondly abbreviated as TGOSM, with the M standing for magazine … or maybe marvelous!). But apparently it is actually the case that there are still a few stragglers, so I’m taking them on as a personal challenge.

Therefore, here are the Top Ten Reasons to Subscribe to The Gift of Stitching magazine during August 2007:

10. You might have been using the wrong needle all this time!

9. You can never have enough Altoid tin covers.

8. You don’t want to leave a basket half finished.

7. You want to know how and why Gloria Moore chose the name of her design company.

6. You don’t want to be one of the last to hear about the special new pattern being released by Needleprint.

5. Who wouldn’t want to try to win one of the sets of thread Stitches and Spice is so graciously giving away?

4. You Followed the Leader and now you’re addicted to White Musings!

3. There’s still time to stitch Helga Mandl’s cute back to school designs before school is REALLY back in session.

2. Debbie Draper’s design My Little Book of Stitches is just GORGEOUS!

1. You need to be a current subscriber in order to win the designing competition sponsored by Dinky Dyes in honor of their 5th year of business.

Technorati Tags: Gift of Stitching, magazine, Dinky Dyes, design competition, designing competition, My Little Book of Stitches, Debbie Draper, Helga Mandl, back to school, Follow the Leader, White Musings, Stitches and Spice, Needleprint, Gloria Moore, finishing for baskets

I really enjoyed checking out the links on About.com: Miniature’s list of the Top Eight Sources for Dollhouse Needlework Kits. The majority of these kits are done on 40 count silk gauze, so I was a bit surprised not to see Threads Through Time listed. (I can’t find a website for Threads Through Time; if anyone knows of it, please let me know what it is! ) However, perhaps that’s because Threads Through Time doesn’t advertise to the dollhouse market (that I know of).

Anyway, I wanted to share Lesley Shepherd’s picks for miniature needlework with you because I think you’ll enjoy looking them over as much as I have.

I particularly enjoyed Janet Granger Designs and MicroStitchery (click on “Stitchery Paraphernalia”) because of the teeny tiny display stands they have available for customers to use to display their miniature needlework in their dollhouses. Too bad the prices for these items aren’t anywhere near teeny tiny, LOL!

I had no idea there were so many options out there for miniature needlework. These people creating items for the dollhouse market haven’t done much to market to the stitching market … Maybe that will change now because I think a lot of their designs are really fantastic!

Of course, there is nothing that says you HAVE TO stitch something on that small of a count. If you fall in love with one of these itty bitty patterns but aren’t comfortable stitching it on 40 count for whatever reason, stitch it on whatever fabric count you prefer.

By the way, I learned a hint from a friend several years ago which has made stitching on 40 count MUCH easier for me. Instead of stitching on 40 count silk gauze, which is very difficult to see, and which requires you to stitch the entire background, consider stitching on 40 count fabric with the fabric being the color you want the background to be. I find this so much easier to see (even when using a dark colored 40 count fabric!) than working on gauze — and since I don’t have to fill in the background, there is also a LOT less stitching to do.

Technorati Tags: miniature, needlework, dollhouse, doll, silk gauze, 40 count, Lesley Shepherd, Threads Through Time, MicroStitchery, Janet Granger Designs

I loved this post from graphic designer Jessica Jones in her blog How about orange on making fabric-covered thumb tacks … which started out as buttons.

Of course, I immediately thought this would be a wonderful item to share with all of you on how to make your own matching buttons to use on your needlework pieces (biscornus, needlebooks, scissor fobs, and anywhere else you want a matching button).

Or what about when you can’t find the right button to use on any piece of needlework, but you do have some fabric with the image you want? For instance, you need a daisy of a particular size, and you have a piece of fabric with a daisy just the right size … Now, you can just create your own button!

Technorati Tags: buttons, button, fabric, needlework, cross stitch, biscornu, Jessica Jones, How about orange, covered thumb tacks

Are you aware that Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams and Teresa Wentzler of TW Designworks teamed up with each other and released two sets of designs available only through PatternsOnline.com? Well, now you know!

Moon Dragon and Sun Dragon are a stunning pair. The heavenly matched Celestial Sun and Celestial Moon would be perfect for a scissor fob or needlebook.

Teresa Wentzler also has released another design called Miniature Autumn Sampler exclusively through PatternsOnline.com, and she appears to be making all of her out of print designs, including those previously published only in magazines, available through PatternsOnline.com … So check this resource before spending a big chunk of change for an out of print TW pattern on eBay or another auction site!

And the best thing? Purchasing through PatternsOnline.com means instant gratification! So you can buy your chart and be stitching it within just a few minutes if you already have the threads on hand!

Technorati Tags: Jennifer Aikman-Smith, Teresa Wentzler, Dragon Dreams, Celestial Sun, Celestial Moon, Sun Dragon, Moon Dragon, Patterns Online, cross stitch, TW Designworks, TWDesignworks, eBay, Miniature Autumn Sampler

In response to an earlier post on copyright law, a reader commented:

Just because you wrote some thing doesn’t mean it’s copyrighted. You have to file for a copyright through the Library of Congress and have a copyright number for there to be any copyright infringement.

I hope your legal team tells you that.

My commenter is wrong, of course. If she were a lawyer or had asked her own legal team, they would have told her so in order that she not come across as misinformed.

According to the US Copyright Office, copyright exists from the moment the work is created. Registration is recommended, but not required. Additionally, expect to see the recommendation for registration to change due to the Internet. The world is a different place now, and the laws must change right along with it. But the definition of what is theft will NOT change.

Copyright law has been the way it is now for some time.

Back when I finally finished writing my master’s thesis in 1998, I did not have to file for a Certificate of Registration in order for my thesis to be copyrighted. In fact, all the time I had been writing my thesis (I started writing in … 1992), even before it was finished, even before it was published, even before it was read by any of my professors, even before it was read by any other individual at all, it was copyrighted. That’s because copyright covers unpublished works as well as published ones.

If I keep a diary intended for no one’s eyes but mine, it is copyrighted, and I own the copyright.

I DID file for that Certificate of Registration on my master’s thesis, though (you’ll have to look me up under my maiden name, Espie), just because I wanted the nice piece of paper from the Library of Congress. I’ll admit I was more easily convinced to part with the registration fee because, should I ever need to go to court if someone steals my original work and claims it as their own, I wanted that piece of paper as proof. That will make the court case EASIER, but it wasn’t REQUIRED. The copyright always existed, it always belonged to ME, and anyone who might try to pass off my work as their own is STEALING.

By the way, it sure is a good thing copyright exists from the time the work is created. Here is a story about red tape. I mailed my application and the required fees in April of 1998. I finally received my Certificate of Registration from the Library of Congress in March of 2000 — and the Effective Date of Registration is stamped January 14, 1999. So the Library of Congress wasn’t all that behind in processing the Certificate of Registration, but they were well over a year behind in mailing their outgoing mail.

Can you imagine the implications to the needlework industry if copyright weren’t actually in effect the whole time? My, my, that could present quite a conundrum, couldn’t it? Imagine all the unhappy needlework designers unable to release their new designs until they finally received their Certificates of Registration … Think of all the shops who would have no new designs coming in to offer their customers … All of us stitchers would have nothing new to tickle our fancies. Good grief, we might all have to stop with the retail therapy! We might actually be stuck with just stitching!! Or, gulp, even stuck doing something else, like reading, or sleeping, or WORKING!!! It gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Thank goodness for copyright. Whew!

So, yes, everything I write is copyrighted from the second I write it. Period. It’s the law. Buckle up, be grateful, and keep your hands inside the car at all times. Thank you, and enjoy the ride!

Technorati Tags: copyright, infringement, theft, Certificate of Registration, copyrighted, stealing, needlework, Library of Congress, cross stitch, Heather Orn, Heather Espie

I know a lot of stitchers really love Jan Houtman designs, but that those same designs are also very difficult to find, especially in the US. Well, if you’ve been looking for something in particular by Jan Houtman, hurry on over to the online Needlework Show and check out the Show link for Naald en Draad. Then, find a shop on the online Needlework show’s list of participating retail shops and place your order.

Technorati Tags: Jan Houtman, Naald en Draad, online Needlework Show

We all know that things happen to get in the way of our keeping up with other things … interferences come up, emergencies happen, our bosses or families have the nerve to think something they want is actually more important than our stitching hobby (and we’ll go along because we know the easiest thing to get them off our backs is to just do what they’ve asked us to do), we simply forget (this doesn’t happen often, but when it does … it can be remedied!), or your usually reliable but roving Needlework Reporter here at Independent Needlework News gets sidetracked (ditto the previous parenthetical phrase except it probably happens more often :).

From now on, if you ever miss the weekly listing of new cross stitch releases from Hoffman Distributing,  you’ll know you can get caught up easily by going to their monthly listing of new releases.

When things get in the way for me, I like to sit down with anything from a warm cup of hot chocolate, hot tea, or even a cold glass of wine — the choice depends on what prevented me from attending to my joyful passion in the first place — and treat myself to some time doing nothing but dreaming about what I’d like to stitch. How about you?

Technorati Tags: Hoffman Distributing, new releases, monthly book listing

One of my favorite events started today: the online Needlework Show. You can browse designs from many designers you may never have heard of, and then place an order for whatever you want through any retail needlework shop listed as participating on the “Retail Shops” portion of their website.

Most vendor pages have a link to their websites, which I recommend checking out to see their other designs and products. You never know what you might have missed previously that you just have to have! I’ve also found that designers are very receptive to being contacted by email during the online Needlework Show. Although they are busy then, most designers really enjoy hearing from us stitchers about what we like about their offerings, and I have yet to contact a designer I encountered through the online Needlework Show who didn’t send me a very nice reply.

Many of the designers are offering door prizes and freebie charts as well, so there are many reasons to check out the online Needlework Show.

This show is an excellent way for us stitchers to influence the needlework industry as a whole. If your local needlework store doesn’t know about the online Needlework Show, please tell them. This is a way they can obtain product without the expenses incurred by travelling to a trade show. Additionally, by giving your local needlework shop a list of the products you see and want from the online Needlework Show, you let them know what you really want. Now your favorite needlework store can identify the types of products which will sell well for them, including things they may not be aware of yet themselves — and obviously, their providing what you want to purchase is what keeps them in business.

The designers/vendors participating in this show, which continues through at least midnight on April 23rd, are:

A Kitty Kats Original, Abby Rose Designs, Always Time to Stitch, Angelic Crafts, Annie Cicatelli Designs, Art-Stitch, Aunt Susie’s House, Barrani Design Studios, Bask Designs, Beardie Designs, Brenda E. Kocher Designs, Brunnerhaus, Butterfly Stitches, Camus International, Carousel Charts, Carriage House Samplings, Cedar Hill Designs, Cherished Stitches, Cindy Valentine Designs, Country Garden Stitchery, Creative Cross Stitch, Cross Eyed Kat, Cross Stitch and More, Cross Stitch Wonders, Dames of the Needle, DebBee’s Designs, Debbie Draper Designs, Designing Dogs, Designs by Lisa, Designs From Pamela, Dessins DHC, Dette Designs, Dinky-Dyes, Dutch Treat Designs, Enchanting Lair, European Crosstitch, Fern Ridge Collection, Follow The Leader Designs, Forever in My Heart, French Needle, Full Circle Designs, Funk & Weber Designs, Gift of Stitching Magazine, Haberdashery Designs & Needlework, Handblessings, Harbour Light Designs, Heart’s Content, Heartfelt Designs, Historic Stitches, Images Stitchery Design, In Good Company, In the Company of Friends, Ink Circles, J. Designs, JAR Designs, JBW Designs, Jeanette Ardern Designs, Kelmscott Designs, Keslyns, KRIF, LGK Crafts and Supplies International, Lilipoints - Sarl LLP, Linen Flowers Designs, Living Stitches, Liz Turner Diehl, Magic Needle, Marilynn & Jackie’s Antiques & Collectibles, Marking Samplar, MarNic Designs, Moonflower Designs, My Big Toe Designs, My Mark, Naald en Draad, Needle & Frame, Needle Arts Mystery Retreat, Needle’s Notion, Needleboxes Etc./Charted Imagery, Needlework Designs By CJ, NeedleXpress, Needlizations, Night Owl Needlepoint, Northern Pine Designs, Olde Willow Stitchery Threads, Olive Hope Design, Original Designs By Christine, Periwinkle Promises, Pine Glen Designs, Princess and Me, Punchneedle Marketplace, R & S Designs, Reflets de Soie, Sampler Girl, Sandy Grossman-Morris Designs, Scarlet Quince, Scholehouse for the Needle, Sekas & Co, Silver Lining, Simple Stitches, Spring Valley Stitchery, Stitch A Gift, Stitch Niche, Stitching Pretty Presents, Stitching Studio, Stoney Creek Collection, Sue Hillis Designs, Summer House Stitche Workes, Sweet Pea Designs, Sweetheart Tree, SzuLet Creations, Tasselart, Threaded Needle Designs, Threads of Gold, Wild-Heart Designs, and X’s & Oh’s.

So please visit the online Needlework Show … Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to be a bigger part of the industry!

Technorati Tags: Needlework Show, cross stitch, A Kitty Kats Original, Abby Rose Designs, Always Time to Stitch, Angelic Crafts, Annie Cicatelli Designs, Art-Stitch, Aunt Susie’s House, Barrani Design Studios, Bask Designs, Beardie Designs, Brenda E. Kocher Designs, Brunnerhaus, Butterfly Stitches, Camus International, Carousel Charts, Carriage House Samplings, Cedar Hill Designs, Cherished Stitches, Cindy Valentine Designs, Country Garden Stitchery, Creative Cross Stitch, Cross Eyed Kat, Cross Stitch and More, Cross Stitch Wonders, Dames of the Needle, DebBee’s Designs, Debbie Draper Designs, Designing Dogs, Designs by Lisa, Designs From Pamela, Dessins DHC, Dette Designs, Dinky-Dyes, Dutch Treat Designs, Enchanting Lair, European Crosstitch, Fern Ridge Collection, Follow The Leader Designs, Forever in My Heart, French Needle, Full Circle Designs, Funk & Weber, Designs, Gift of Stitching Magazine, Haberdashery Designs & Needlework, Handblessings, Harbour Light Designs, Heart’s Content, Heartfelt Designs, Historic Stitches, Images Stitchery Design, In Good Company, In the Company of Friends, Ink Circles, J. Designs, JAR Designs, JBW Designs, Jeanette Ardern Designs, Kelmscott Designs, Keslyns, KRIF, LGK Crafts and Supplies International, Lilipoints - Sarl LLP, Linen Flowers Designs, Living Stitches, Liz Turner Diehl, Magic Needle, Marilynn & Jackie’s Antiques & Collectibles, Marking Samplar, MarNic Designs, Moonflower Designs, My Big Toe Designs, My Mark, Naald en Draad, Needle & Frame, Needle Arts Mystery Retreat, Needle’s Notion, Needleboxes Etc./Charted Imagery, Needlework Designs By CJ, NeedleXpress, Needlizations, Night Owl Needlepoint, Northern Pine Designs, Olde Willow Stitchery Threads, Olive Hope Design, Original Designs By Christine, Periwinkle Promises, Pine Glen Designs, Princess and Me, Punchneedle Marketplace, R&S Designs, Reflets de Soie, Sampler Girl, Sandy Grossman-Morris Designs, Scarlet Quince, Scholehouse for the Needle, Sekas & Co, Silver Lining, Simple Stitches, Spring Valley Stitchery, Stitch A Gift, Stitch Niche, Stitching Pretty Presents, Stitching Studio, Stoney Creek Collection, Sue Hillis Designs, Summer House Stitche Workes, Sweet Pea Designs, Sweetheart Tree, SzuLet Creations, Tasselart, Threaded Needle Designs, Threads of Gold, Wild-Heart Designs, X’s & Oh’s